Getting Around

Before A was born I spent weeks researching different prams and buggy’s, reading reviews, watching You Tube videos and listening to what other parents had to say. There are hundreds of options out there, do you want a traditional pram, a travel system or a from birth buggy. Many of the options don’t come with all the parts that you think you will need and when you start to add these on the price can get very high quite quickly.One of the main things that people kept saying to me was that after the first 6 months they found that they used their expensive travel systems less and less and found the ease of a light weight buggy was all they really needed.

Living in a top floor flat we ruled out most of the options available for being to heavy right at the start. The thought of carrying a separate chassis and carrycot up and down those stairs with a baby and shopping bags was not appealing at all. This meant that I spent my time narrowing down the buggy’s that could be used from birth and finally settled on the Silver Cross Reflex.

There is a lot to love about the Reflex but there are also a few things that are a bit annoying as well. I’ve found myself getting buggy envy when walking around, I’m always eyeing up what other mums are using but thats a different issue! The Reflex initially stood out as the one for us because it was a travel system as well as a umbrella fold buggy and it could be used from birth by purchasing a parent facing add on. So far we have only used it in the parent facing mode as A is to small to use the buggy part at the moment. When she starts to use that part I will share my thoughts on that as well.

So first of all the things that I love about it are that there is no separate carrycot. Once you have fitted the baby nest (this is a separate purchase on top of the buggy price) you can fold it all as one piece meaning that it goes in and out the car quite easily and can be lifted up the stairs in one go. We have ended up storing the buggy in the car because even though its all in one piece three flights of stairs are still no fun when it needs to be used. The baby nest itself must be very comfortable as A sleeps like a dream every time she is out in it and she is lovely and secure in the harness so it’s easy to go up and down steps and steep hills without her moving. The buggy itself feels really robust and has handled brilliantly on every terrain that I have thrown at it so far. Edinburgh has some terrible streets that are full of cobbles and potholes, none of this has been an issue and it has even been great across grass in the park. It steers really well and turns very easily and can even be pushed with one hand if you really need to. Lastly you can attach the Silver Cross car seat to it if you buy that as well which we did. I thought we would use this feature a lot more than we have but it hasn’t really been that essential because our car is so small the car seat is a bit of a hassle to get in and out.

Now for the things that annoy me a little. The hood that comes with the baby nest is great quality but unfortunately it doesn’t shade A from the sun at all. It would be nice if it had been just that little bit bigger so that I didn’t need to make a sun shade as well. The basket underneath is pretty useless when the baby nest is on as its almost impossible to get anything in and out of without moving the seat part of the buggy. This is not ideal if you have a sleeping baby, it starts to rain and you have stashed the rain cover underneath. You then need to get the baby out the buggy or tip their feet up both options are not great. The rain cover itself does not come with the baby nest and you have to contact Silver Cross to buy this as it is not available on their website. I find this a little strange for a British company who know how much it rain here, surely a rain cover is an essential item? The buggy itself feels very wide and with the baby nest on it is very long, its not the easiest to fit onto the bus or manoeuvre around narrow shop isles. I don’t think it will be as long once it is used as a buggy but I’ll need to wait a few month before I will know this.

None of these things are deal breakers though and I have enjoyed using it. I would suggest it for someone who has a small car and is looking for a buggy rather than a pram but I’d make sure they knew its flaws. Will it be my only buggy? I’m not sure, we may end up getting something smaller and lighter but for the moment it is working well.